Cashflow concerns cause insomnia for business owners

Company chieftains stress out over cashflow and pipeline performance issues so much it's keeping business owners up at night and causing mental health issues

Running a company can be draining at times. Unfortunately, this can take its toll physically and mentally on business owners. For instance, half of head honchos are sleep deprived, according to a new survey by Allstar Business Solutions, a fuel card provider.

Having surveyed 1,000 UK small-business owners on sleeping habits, it found 52% struggled to catch their Zs due to concerns over balancing cashflow Furthermore, 42% worried about managing business expenses and said they required two full weekdays of staff time to address them. Moreover, 41% said their long payment pipeline contributed to their insomnia. Aside from expenses, 48% revealed maintaining a work-life balance affected their sleeping and 61% said worry about strengthening their pipeline was also a factor.

The largest impact on cashflow was business outgoings, such as office equipment and expenses. This totalled to £8,212 on a monthly average. Of this, the biggest share was travel expenses like parking and toll road fees, which on average cost businesses £1,753 per month.

Commenting on companies’ cashflow crunches, Thore Vestergaard, SVP and managing director of Allstar Business Solutions, said: “Managing expenses is a big admin burden for many companies which can have a significant impact on the overall efficiency of a business – particularly given the fact that it takes a whole two days to reconcile them. There are things that can be done to relieve the stresses and strains though, from changing the expense policy to adopting the latest technologies that minimise admin while maximising efficiencies.”

A the lack of work-life balance and long working hours are common when you launch a new venture. Nevertheless business magnates must prioritise mental health and ensure they don’t follow Elon Musk’s always-on culture. While challenges when scaling up are inevitable,at least ensuring your cashflow is sound can help you get some sleep.